The Sense of an Ending (Julian Barnes)

The author of this small novel creates a dense and honest portrayal of the life of an ordinary man who is, as he says, at the end of his life; "no, not life itself, but of something else: the end of any likelihood of change in that life." He was pleasantly married, gently divorced. He has a daughter who keeps in touch distantly and grandchildren he rarely meets. He has a complaisant view of himself and his ordinary place in life, and a memory of an ordinary youth that includes two unusual people: Adrian, the brilliant young man he went to school with, and Veronica, the difficult young woman he he dated for a while. Now, as he settles into a bland  old age, these people come back in their various ways to haunt him and throw him off his rails. I admit to being confused at the end, and think it  would have been a splendid idea if Veronica had actually talked to him instead of just telling him over and over that he didn't get it, but the writing is clear and engrossing. I enjoyed it.